–By David Steinkraus
Chicago native Jovita Carranza was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday as the latest leader of the U.S. Small Business Administration. She is also the only Latina, and one of four women, serving in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. The Senate vote was 88-5.
“As more women, minorities, veterans and other underserved entrepreneurs begin to open small businesses, SBA must have bold leadership and innovative thinking to help them overcome the specific, historical barriers they face on the path to business ownership,” Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said in a prepared statement. He is the top Democrat on the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. “Treasurer Carranza’s decades of experience in business and government will be an asset to SBA as it seeks to better meet the needs of America’s entrepreneurs.”
Carranza moves to the SBA from the Treasury Department where she was treasurer of the United States and served as a principal advisor to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
This will not be her first exposure to the SBA. From November 2006 to January 2009, she served as deputy administrator of the agency. In that job, she managed more than 80 field offices and a portfolio of loans and venture capital investments worth about $80 billion.
Before entering government service, she had a long career in private enterprise that included 20 years at United Parcel Service. She began with the company as a part-time, night-shift box handler and worked her way up to president of Latin America and Caribbean operations, which made her the highest-ranking Latina in the company’s history. In Chicago, and between her times of service in government, she founded and ran the consulting company JCR Group.
Carranza was nominated in April to replace Linda McMahon, co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, who left the SBA to join America First, a super PAC supporting Trump’s re-election.
